NAACP Coatesville schools report to be released

Photos by Tom Kelly IV ¬ NAACP President and Coatesville School District School Board President Tonya Thames Taylor speaks during the 75th anniversary celebration of the NAACP's Coatesville Chapter, which was held Sunday afternoon September 22, 2013 at the Bethel AME Church in South Coatesville Borough.

Five months of collecting recorded concerns of discrimination in the Coatesville Area School District have boiled down to a report that will be presented to Coatesville NAACP chapter and other community members at 10 a.m. on March 15 via a telephone conference.

“We are there to promote healing and the correction of the relationship between the administrative elements of the district and their taxpaying constituents,” said Joan Duvall-Flynn, education committee chairwoman for the Pennsylvania State Conference of NAACP. “We are not one really to stir up the tempest in a teapot. We make every effort to solve problems.”

Some of those concerns presented at two NAACP hearings held in October involved the possible appearance of inequality through race, gender and learning disability throughout the school district.

The state NAACP Education Committee is doing its work in reaction to the discovery of racially and sexually offensive text messages exchanged between two former Coatesville Area School District administrators – Superintendent Richard Como and Athletic Director Jim Donato.

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“What emerged in our hearings and what emerged underneath the demeanor of those two district employees was another world of concerns that was raised during the hearings and subsequent materials sent to the NAACP,” Duvall-Flynn said.

However, the method of presenting the proposal for action was unsettling to some community members, including paid members of the NAACP and some members of the local chapter’s executive committee.

“It doesn’t make sense in a process that started for the community, in the community, and with a promise to bring justice to the community,” said Keith Wilburn, pastor at New Community Christian Church in Coatesville and NAACP member. “It just doesn’t make sense you wouldn’t bring it back to the community.”

Wilburn told the Daily Local News Thursday the NAACP’s technique in presenting the proposal “seems anticlimactic.”

“If they are really interested in the community feedback, bring it here,” he said.

The decision to hold the presentation via a one-hour telephone conference was created to avoid unforeseen weather conditions that might push back the presentation, Duvall-Flynn said.

“In today’s technological world, it is very common for things to be done in open conference call where hundreds of people can call in,” she said.

Still, some don’t think a conference call is the best way to address the issue.

There’s no transparency in this method and that issue should be addressed immediately, said Everett Butcher, Coatesville NAACP Executive Committee member and the executive coordinators director for the Chester County Minority Caucus.

“For as many that have been involved in this whole situation I don’t believe this is going to reach the masses that have an vested interest in this,” he said.

Butcher said he would have preferred the proposal was presented both by a conference call and a community meeting where the proposal could be additionally presented.

Coatesville resident Fonz Newsuan said the local NAACP has repeatedly “dropped the ball” since the discovery of the text messages between Como and Donato.

“It’s been so long, every once in a while the community wants a crust of bread, something to hang our hats on,” Newsuan said, referring to the lack of updates from the state and local NAACP chapters.

According to Duvall-Flynn, the supposed silence the community has witnessed is justified by the amount of work needed to complete the proposal.

Over the course of five months, she said information and concerns have been gathered; meetings have been held with school district administrative staff; and research was performed on ways other school districts handled similar concerns.

Duvall-Flynn also said various meetings were scheduled to officially present the proposal to school board members twice since January.

“How that disconnect occurred, I won’t speak to,” she said. “We had made agreements to be there. Even once we showed up only to find out there has been miscommunication of the school board.”

According to Duvall-Flynn, the proposal was presented to school board members on Feb. 24. The conference call was never publicized at the school board meeting on Feb. 25.

School board members met in executive session with NAACP on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. It was unclear why the executive session was held.

Duvall-Flynn said the school district is not being forced to follow whatever is proposed.

The concern with how the proposal still remains – the presentation should remain consistent with the original intent of including the community to the fullest.

“It’s not going to help or hurt the NAACP,” Wilburn said. “It’s going to help or hurt the community.”

Coatesville NAACP President Tonya Thames Taylor refused to comment Thursday. She said no other member of the local chapter is allowed to comment on matters involving the local chapter other than the chapter president.

Those interested in listening in on the phone conference can call (857) 232-0156 and enter in the conference code No. 359983. The presentation is scheduled for Saturday, March 15, at 10 a.m.

The local NAACP chapter announced late Thursday afternoon the public can listen in on the conference call at Greater Deliverance Church, located at 800 First Avenue, Coatesville. Parking is free.

Follow Daily Local News staff writer Kristina Scala on Twitter @Scala_Kris and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KristinaScalaDLN.